Prostitution in Hong Kong is itself legal, but organised prostitution is illegal, as there are laws against keeping a vice establishment, causing or procuring another to be a prostitute, living on the prostitution of others, or public solicitation.United States Department of State, "2008 Human Rights Report: China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau)", Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 25 February 2009
The most visible public venues for sex workers in Hong Kong, especially for tourists, are massage parlours and the so-called "Japanese style night clubs". However, most of the commercial sex worker industry consists of women working in small, usually one room apartments, usually referred to as "one-woman brothels", the equivalent of the "Soho walk-up" in the United Kingdom. They advertise for clients through the Internet and local classifieds. Most popular mainstream newspapers will carry such classifieds with brothel guides as an insert within racing form guides. Yellow neon advertising boxes were used to advertise sexual services to such an extent that "yellow" () became synonymous with prostitution.
History In an attempt to prevent the spread of STIs, the authorities introduced "Hong Kong Ordinance No 12" in 1857. This required all brothels to be registered and workers to undergo regular health checks. Population census in 1865 and 1866 recorded 81 and 134 "Chinese brothel keepers". The 1874 Annual Report of the Colonial Surgeon reported that there were "123 licensed Chinese brothels, containing 1,358 prostitutes". From 1879 to 1932, prostitution was legal and regulated, and prostitutes were required to register for licenses, pay tax, and have regular health examination. Prostitution boomed in the districts of Sai Ying Pun, Wan Chai, Mong Kok and Yau Ma Tei. In 1930 Hong Kong, with a population of 840,000, boasted 200 legal brothels with over 7,000 licensed prostitutes. But in 1932, the Hong Kong government issued a ban on prostitution and three years later licensed prostitution ended. From that time on, prostitution was permitted within strict limits while prohibiting a whole host of activities surrounding prostitution, such as soliciting for sex and living off "immoral earnings" (working as a pimp). It has also attracted prostitutes from other countries. Most of them have come from Southeast Asia, and even from Europe and the United States.
Although organised prostitution is illegal, the industry had always been under the influence of triads to recruit economically disadvantaged women who otherwise would never enter the profession voluntarily. Until the 1980s, most Hong Kong underground sex establishments were run by gangsters. During the 1990s, however, Hong Kong saw a massive shift in the form of prostitution. There was an influx of "northern girls" () from mainland China who worked as prostitutes illegally in Hong Kong on their short tourist visas; local voluntary prostitutes also increased dramatically in number. As a result, gangsters could no longer make a profit by coercion and their controlling power declined.
Early red light districts Lyndhurst Terrace and the surrounding area were the location of some of the earliest brothels established in Hong Kong, in the mid-19th century. The Cantonese name of the street, (pai fa) literally means "flower arrangement", possibly because of presence of numerous stalls in the area in the mid-19th century, selling flowersFilm Service Office. Location Library: to the customers of the nearby brothels. The name of Lyndhurst Terrace appears in this context in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, published in 1939.Finnegans Wake, Etext, p. 351 Western prostitutes concentrated there, while Chinese brothels were located in the Tai Ping Shan area near Po Hing Fong."Early Hong Kong Brothels", Exhibition at the University Museum and Art Gallery, 26 November 2003 to 29 February 2004 The Chinese writer Wang Tao wrote in 1860 that Tai Ping Shan Street was full of brothels: "gaudy houses, sporting brightly painted doors and windows with fancy curtains". The brothels gradually moved to Possession Street and relocated to Shek Tong Tsui in 1903.
From 1884 to 1887 many brothels were declared by the Government to be unlicensed and closed down. These were mainly in First, Second and Third Street, but also in Sheung Fung Lane, Ui on Lane and Centre Street.
In the early 1900s Spring Garden Lane and Sam Pan Street () in Wan Chai became a red-light district with western and Chinese prostitutes. To attract attention, brothels were displaying large street number plates, and the area became known as "Big Number Brothels".
Tanka prostitutes The Tanka people, an ethnic minority in coastal South China, were a source of prostitutes for the sailors of the British Empire. The Tanka in Hong Kong were considered "outcasts" and categorised as low class.
Ordinary Chinese prostitutes were afraid of serving Westerners since they looked strange to them, while the Tanka prostitutes freely mingled with Western men. The Tanka assisted the Europeans with supplies and providing them with prostitutes. Low class European men in Hong Kong easily formed relations with the Tanka prostitutes. The profession of prostitution among the Tanka women led to them being hated by the Chinese both because they had sex with westerners and because the Tanka were seen as racially inferior.
Tanka prostitutes were considered "low class", greedy for money, arrogant, and liable to treat their clients badly. They had a reputation for punching their clients or mocking them by calling them names. Nevertheless, their brothels were said to be well kept and tidy. A fictional story written in the 1800s described western items decorating the rooms of Tanka prostitutes.
The stereotype among most Chinese in Canton that all Tanka women were prostitutes was common, leading the government during the Republican era to inflate the number of prostitutes when counting, due to all Tanka women being included. The Tanka women were viewed as such that their prostitution activities were considered part of the normal bustle of a commercial trading city.
Tanka women were ostracised from the Cantonese community, and were nicknamed "salt water girls" ( ham shui mui in Cantonese) for their services as prostitutes to foreigners in Hong Kong.
Tanka women who worked as prostitutes for foreigners also commonly kept a "nursery" of Tanka girls specifically for exporting them for prostitution work to overseas Chinese communities such as in Australia or America, or to serve as a Chinese or foreigner's concubine.
A report called "Correspondence respecting the alleged existence of Chinese slavery in Hong Kong: presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty" was presented to the English Parliament in 1882 concerning the existence of slavery in Hong Kong, which involved many Tanka girls serving as prostitutes or mistresses to westerners.
Japanese prostitutes
Japanese prostitutes called Karayuki-san, many coming from poor villages in Kyushu, started coming to Hong Kong in 1879, and constituted the majority of Japanese residents of the territory in the 1880s and 1890s. There were 13 licensed Japanese brothels and 132 prostitutes in Hong Kong in 1901, with the figure reaching a peak of 172 in 1908. Initially located in Central, the Japanese brothels later moved to Wan Chai.
Types and venues Street prostitutes: They may sometimes be seen on the pavements of Yau Ma Tei, Sham Shui Po, Tsuen Wan, Yuen Long and Tuen Mun. Usually pimps or gangsters are not involved and the prostitute will loiter in the street in search of customers. After a deal is struck, they would go to a love hotel. Before the Asian financial crisis in 1998, street prostitutes would offer a "set course" of services; after that, the set price dropped by half. Some girls will hang around the lobbies of hotels, and will even knock on the doors of the rooms of single men after being tipped off by the concierge. In more down-market accommodation the concierge may ask customers if they require company. American and other European prostitutes generally charge higher and are generally located in the business district of Central.
One-woman brothel: ( jat1 lau4 jat1 fung2 Yīlóu-yīfèng): By Hong Kong law it is illegal for two or more prostitutes to work in the same premises.Hong Kong legal code Chapter 200 Section 139 Keeping a vice establishment. As a result, the most common form of legal prostitution in Hong Kong is the so-called "one-woman brothel", where one woman receives customers in her apartment. The expense of the older centres of such activity has led to towns in the New Territories such as Yuen Long and Sheung Shui becoming centres for the one-woman brothel trade. This law however has little influence on the density of prostitute activity, the nature of Hong Kong housing meaning that entire floors of some buildings or even whole apartment blocks may consist of one woman brothels, with in some the letter of the law being adhered to by the subdivision of flats into multiple individual dwellings. Saunas and massage parlours: Ostensibly these are regular saunas with the management turning a blind eye to other services the masseuses may offer. Usually the "menu" on offer will fall just short of vaginal intercourse, with manual sex ("hand-job"), breasts ("milk-job" or "Russian") and oral sex ("BJ") being amongst the services available after negotiation. Night club workers: The term nightclub in Hong Kong is being driven from general use for being used as a euphemism for hostess clubs. Hostesses receive a basic retainer and commission for having customers buy expensive drinks, customers pay the club for the privilege of taking the girls out by paying a "bar fine" and buying out the girls "time", whatever comes after being a matter of negotiation between the customer and hostess. A similar format can be found at some karaoke lounges with private rooms. Those that operate under the front of internet cafes have also existed but all were shut down in 2004. Freelance: The growth of the Internet has facilitated a practice similar to "compensated dating" or "escorting" with amateur prostitutes offering their services on message boards and forums. CNN reported in 2009 that social workers had found "compensated dating" was growing among Hong Kong teenage girls, the caseload of girls engaging in this practice had doubled in two years, the girls engaging in this practice had cut across socioeconomic levels, and Hong Kong legal experts said the practice was a form of prostitution. CNN reported that students, often teenagers, sell sex so they can buy consumer goods such as cell phones and clothes. Hong Kong social worker Chiu Tak-Choi said that most girls who engage in compensated dating do not view themselves as prostitutes.
Migrant sex workers
Thailand and Philippines These sex workers are particularly visible in the Wan Chai district, catering mainly to Western businessmen and tourists. The sex workers operating in this area are predominantly Thai (including transsexuals) and Filipino. Many work on a freelance basis in Wan Chai bars and discothèques.
There are several NGOs that work closely with sex workers in Hong Kong; these include Ziteng and Aids Concern. Ziteng campaigns for changes in the law, in particular the overturn of ban on brothels with more than one prostitute, since this prevents sex workers banding together for protection.